August 9, 2013

When it comes to death metal, there’s
brutality and then there’s NECROTIC DISGORGEMENT. These boys knock the goreometer
up to 11, and then some.

Take their second release, Documentaries of
Dementia, for instance: it’s an album about serial killers. We’re not talking
Michael Myers here, either, we’re talking the real deal: Fred and Rosemary West
(Conceived for Incest), Joe Clark (Grotesque Skeletal Reconstruction), Lawrence
Bittaker (Icepick Ear Sodomy) etc. And just in case the cover (basically, a
‘spot the song title’ collage of grimness) isn’t warning enough, there’s always
the intro to the album, a sample taken from the tape David Parker Ray played
for his victims before torturing them.

And no, it’s not a reconstruction…

Musically, the album’s every bit as
punishing. Each track is drilled into your brain by way of Jason Trecazzi and
Phil Good’s rhythm section, blast beats unrelenting during the 40 odd minutes
running time. Deskins and Tipton’s guitar rides perfectly over the top, dark
and brooding yet never stagnant; there are plenty of riffs and grooves to
unearth (even a little wah-wah courtesy of track 2, Pincushion Pussy!). And then there’s Jimmy Javins’ vocals which
manage to stride that difficult line between being aggressive enough and
concise enough to bleed some melody out.

This is top shelf stuff.

Highlights for me include Icepick Ear
Sodomy, a catchy behemoth of a track spanning several kick ass tempo changes
and more hooks than an abattoir, and Grotesque Skeletal Reconstruction, a
tight-as-fuck punky number that slams your ass all the way to hell and back. But
every track’s a winner; there are no fillers here or moments where you know
someone’s half-assing it. No trace of duffness at all.

With almost a decade between this and their
previous release, debut album Suffocated in Shrinkwrap, you would hope that it
was time well spent at Castle Necrotic and you’d be right: DOD delivers the
goods and shows a band totally in command of its sound and direction.

Track listing:

1. Intronitiation

2. Pincushion Pussy

3. Conceived for Incest

4. Postmortem Fluid Evacuation

5. Crack Whore Compost

6. Anal Trauma

7. Icepick Ear Sodomy

8. Grotesque Skeletal Reconstruction

9. Defecation Delicacy

10. He Wears the Flesh

Documentaries of Dementia is released by Comatose Records and can be purchased here.